Shadow Gallery
by BevellaClearlyNotKnown
Summary: A short look into V's mind during the torture/illusion sessions with Evey. Now a continued story of after the movie-verse. Evey/V, Evey/Finch. Sorta Fluffy.
1. Chapter 1

"You won't last much longer, you're gonna die here. Why protect someone who doesn't give a shit about you?"

He threw her back into her cell, slammed the door, and began walking away.

When he exited the cellblock, returning to the Shadow Gallery, he sighed deeply.

He reached up, and pulled off his wig, and shucked off his leather gloves. This charade was wearing him down, as much as her. It was more difficult than he could have predicted, torturing her.

She was holding up well enough that she hadn't even given away the merest detail. He knew she had found Valerie's letter, perhaps that's what had given her newfound strength.

The look in her eyes, every time he sat her down across the desk from him, the pain, the confusion, and the desperate want and need for him to rescue her had begun to fade. She seemed a bit more resolved.

The next time he put her through the water torture, even with threats she remained completely calm. . It seemed she was almost ready, perhaps after he had dinner he would go back and give her the ultimatum. In her world, she wouldn't perceive time as he did, one of the advantages for him. As he knew well, when in prison, time tended to blur together, even the food deliveries didn't help, as he made sure to stagger them at 3 random times of day, instead of following his own feeding schedule.

He ended up getting distracted by his plans, and returned a bit later than he had wanted, but the session went as he had predicted.

As he dragged her back to her cell, after telling her in his Creedy disguise that she would be killed, if she didn't cooperate, and yet she said nothing, she almost looked distant, as if deep in thought, in a moment of weakness, after returning her to her cell, for the last time, he stayed at the door, turning to her,

"Look, all they want is a bit of information, just give them something, anything will help." He tried his best to keep the pleading out of his voice, but she merely shook her head,

"Thank-you, but I've nothing to say."

"Then you have no fear anymore, you're completely free."

He barely noticed the look of shock on her face, as he swiftly exited her cell.

He closed the door, a bit less forceful than usual, and walked down the hall slowly.

How she reacted to the truth would make all the difference.

* * *

_A/N: I know these notes are annoying, but i wanted to explain where i think this story is going. I haven't written a thing in a while, but i got an idea while watching the movie again. Seen it millions of times, but never thought of anything different. thanks for reading._


	2. Chapter 2

As Evey stumbled down the hall, stopping to stare in disbelief at the guard, who was only a dressed up mannequin, she felt her brain seeming to freeze. None of this made sense. The hallway began to lead to a wooden door, as she reached out a hand to push it open, it swung wide, revealing soft music, and the art and beauty of the Shadow Gallery.

She walked out, turning to see V, resplendent as always, and he was fumbling with his gloves, but looked up at the sound of her gasp.

"You."

"Hello Evey."

"It was you? That… that wasn't real." She found herself gesturing back from whence she'd come, as if to make sure she wasn't imagining this all. The room began to spin and she closed her eyes.

"No. It wasn't."

Her eyes flew open,

"Is Gordon?"

"I'm sorry, but he's dead. I thought they'd merely arrest him, but when they found a Koran in his apartment, they had him executed."

"Oh…my god." Her lungs seemed to be failing her, and she began to hyperventilate. Even though what she'd been through hadn't been real, Gordon had likely gone through worse, and was now gone.

Tears began to form in her eyes, and as V tried to come closer, she stepped back.

"You. You're sick! I hate you! How could you do this to me? You tortured me! You tortured me? Why?"

"You said you wanted to live without fear. I could see no other way to do this. You have no idea how much it hurt me, how difficult it was. Every day I wanted to end it, but you wouldn't give in, you wouldn't let me. So I couldn't."

Words failed her, and Evey fell to her knees, suddenly unable to hear anything he was saying.

He told her how she had faced her death, and how she had been calm, could she find that calm again?

She swallowed, her throat suddenly as dry as sandpaper.

"Air. I need air. I need to go outside. Please." Her tears had dried on her face, and as she looked up at him, she found the anger was gone.

"There's a lift, it'll take us to the roof."

She went with him wordlessly, and when they reached the roof, it was pouring rain, as it usually was in London.

He tried to put his cloak around her shoulders, to protect her, but she merely pushed her hand against it. She wasn't worried about a little thing like getting wet.

After all, what Valerie had said, had written, God was in the rain.

She walked out into the downpour, and looked to the heavens, her arms rising of their own accord, accepting the rain in like a renewal.

Like salvation.

* * *

With no job, no home, and no friends to miss her, she decided to stay with V, and help him with his plans for the 5th.

The night he set off to speak with Inspector Finch, in a disguise as an old, bespecticaled man, she laughed at him. When he had growled at her to make sure dinner was ready when he returned, she knew the old her might have been frightened, but no more.

"Nice try." She smiled at him, her brown eyes twinkling a little.

V smiled back, the thin mask of William Rookwood able to show more emotion than his regular Guy Fawkes mask.

* * *

"Inspector Finch, and his partner, they aren't bad. I think they'll be able to figure things out, and make their own decisions. Though I do wonder what sort of relationship they have outside work. They move like they're in tandem, like they've been programmed almost."

Evey nudged him gently, as she carefully swirled the pan full of butter, nearly ready for the bread and eggs. He had insisted on doorknobs to celebrate their first morning of meeting.

"What? Are you saying you think they're lovers? You're hardly one to judge."

He nodded,

"True my dear, but it's just a thought."

"So what have you got planned for me to do? Besides keep you fed and make sure you don't stay up too late plotting."

"Actually, it might be good for you to visit a grocery, we're running low on some normal items."

"Do you think that's safe? What if someone sees me?"

"I think you'll be alright." V said quietly, he knew she couldn't see it, but she even walked differently after what she had been through. She had a stoic grace, unlike her more timid, ballet like stride that she had before.

* * *

_A/N: I know these notes are annoying, but i wanted to explain where i think this story is going. I haven't written a thing in a while, but i got an idea while watching the movie again. Seen it millions of times, but never thought of anything different. thanks for reading._


	3. Chapter 3

Evey tilted her head, seeming to study V, as she watched him write carefully.

"You're right you know. Today, I was checking out the groceries, and a friend of mine, someone I worked with nearly 4 years came up behind me, I was so nervous I dropped my money, but when she handed to me, she looked me right in the eye, didn't recognize me. Whatever you did, it worked."

V listened to her, silent. His hand stilled, and he turned to her,

"You have no idea what you're truly capable of, until you're forced to do it. Or rather, it happens to you."

"Tonight I may be gone longer than usual; I have to pay our friend Mr. Creedy a visit. Make sure to get things rolling a bit."

Evey bit her lip a little, but nodded.

"Of course. I'll do my best not to worry." She stepped towards him, her hand resting on his shoulder, and she leaned down to kiss the top of his wig covered head,

"Don't do anything too dangerous V. Goodnight."

She turned and walked away, heading for her bedroom, and he sighed.

He was becoming a bit too emotionally attached to her. It might make the final plan a bit difficult.

* * *

As Evey lay in her bed, the soft silk of the sheets continued to amaze her.

She tried to fight sleep, tried to stay awake, so that she would be sure to hear the soft thump of V's boots, indicating his safe return, but she couldn't do it. Her eyes fell shut, and she dreamed of fields of scarlet carsons, which then morphed into Guy Fawkes masks, she began turning them over, trying to find V, but all she could see were the faces of people who had died, her mother, her father, her brother, Gordon, the last face was blurry, but had kind eyes like Valerie.

She woke with a start, the air filled with the smell of cooking bacon.

"V?" she called out, and his chuckle filled the gallery.

"Who else would it be?" his voice boomed out, and she relaxed, his mission must have gone well, he sounded almost cheerful.

"I take it the meeting with Mr. Creedy went according to plan?" her bare feet padded softly on the wooden floor, like a kittens paws, and he turned to see her in merely an oversized white dress shirt, probably one of his discarded.

"Yes, it went very well. I think he understands what's going to happen. At least, the part of the plan I want him in on."

He turned to her, and she imagined he was most likely grinning behind his mask, his cheeks perhaps flushed with his success.

* * *

_A/N: I know these notes are annoying, but i wanted to explain where i think this story is going. I haven't written a thing in a while, but i got an idea while watching the movie again. Seen it millions of times, but never thought of anything different. thanks for reading._


	4. Chapter 4

A couple weeks later found Inspector Finch in his office chair, spinning thoughtfully, like a child might if given free rein in an adult's office.

Dominic hurried in, shutting the door behind him, and flicking on the muting device that allowed them to speak freely.

"What have you found Inspector?"

His grey eyes were alight, perhaps with hope, or anticipation, that Finch had at least cracked the case surrounding the terrorist V.

"Last night, I went to Lark Hill."

"But Inspector! That's outside quarantine!" Dominic was stunned.

Finch shook his hand at him,

"I know I know. But I had to see it for myself."

"What do you think? Did you find anything?"

"Not really. It's just, there was this garden there, and it had grown up from the rubble, full of those bloody roses he's been leaving with the dead bodies. But when I was there it was strange. I suddenly had this feeling that everything was connected. It's like I could see the whole thing, one long chain of events that stretched all the way back before Lark Hill. I felt like I could see everything that happened, and everything that is going to happen. It was like a perfect pattern, laid out in front of me. And I realized we're all part of it, and all trapped by it." His eyes fell shut, and he sighed, reliving the moment he had had in the eerie garden.

"So do you know what's going to happen?" Dominic asked eagerly, but quickly retreated back into the chair as Finch shook his head.

"I couldn't see anything definite. But I can imagine. With so much chaos, someone will do something stupid. And when they do, things will turn nasty. And then Sutler will be forced to do the only thing he knows how to do. At which point, all V needs to do is keep his word. "

Dominic leaned back in his chair, his hand flying to his temple,

"Bloody hell. "

"I know. It looks pretty bleak."

* * *

The night of November the 4th, Inspector Finch never slept a wink. He was still staring at his glass of whiskey when his alarm clicked on at 7a.m.

He turned to pull open the curtain,

"Tonight's your big night. Are you ready for it? Are _we _ready for it?" he muttered to himself.

* * *

_A/N: thanks for reading._


	5. Chapter 5

Barely fifty miles away, 1 mile underground, V was suiting up, his final plans rushing through his head.

Evey was still asleep, unknowing of the special gift he had prepared for her. The piece de Le resistance.

Around noon, V walked out of his office, into the center of the Shadow Gallery, to see Evey, standing and staring at the jukebox, her left toe tapping not quite with the beat, but perhaps absentmindedly.

"Evey? There are 827 songs in that jukebox, I've heard every one, but never danced to any of them. Would you do me the honor of a dance?"

She turned, her face caught in the light from the display, and she smiled at him, momentarily rendering him speechless.

"Of course V. What better way to celebrate the eve of your revolution?"

"A revolution without dancing, is one not worth having." He quipped back at her, and she couldn't help but giggle a bit.

As they twirled about the gallery, he was content to watch her, but she spoke up,

"You know, you're one of the most important people in my life, and for the past year you've been like my guardian, yet I know almost nothing about you. Not your real name or even what you look like…" she reached up, as if to remove his mask, but he stopped her.

"Beneath this mask, is a face, but it is not mine. It is too twisted, damaged and scarred to be me. And it is time for me to give you your gift." He pulled away, distracted, and she frowned, confused as to what he was talking about.

She followed him down a passageway, and she felt as if they were going deeper underground.

As he pushed open a door, and she walked through, she gasped.

"This is…"

"The old abandoned railway system. It leads straight to Parliament. Took me nearly 10 years to clear it out and lay fresh tracks."

She walked around the train slowly, seeing the hundreds of pounds of fertilizer, and her mind suddenly clicked.

"You're really going to do it aren't you? Blow up parliament?"

He gazed at her, with what could only be called a quizzical expression,

"Well, in a way. You see, it's really up to you. This is my gift to you Evey. This train, my house, everything I own, after tonight, it becomes yours. This train is yours to do with as you wish. You see, I realized after tonight, this world will not be mine to shape any more, it will belong to different people, and you, as one of them, should be able to decide how to shape it."

"What are you saying? You're not planning to come back?"

"It is time for me to meet my maker. He and I have some things to discuss, and yes, it's unlikely I will return alive."

"What? NO! You can't do that. There's still time, we could run away, together. Forget about your revenge."

He stared at her, cupping her cheek in his gloved hand, seeming to consider what she said, before shaking his head.

"I'm sorry."

He walked away, but she quickly went after him, stopping him with a hand on his shoulder, as he turned, she stepped in close,

"Be careful." She leaned up on her tip-toes, and kissed the mask where his lips would be, gently, softly, and time seemed to stand still, before he pulled away.

"Goodbye Evey."

* * *

_A/N: thanks for reading._


	6. Chapter 6

She sat, staring at the ground, her vision blurry with tears. The clock was ticking, and she was unsure for the first time in a long while.

What should she do?

A few moments passed, or perhaps it was an hour, time seemed to slow down a bit. She heard a stifled cough, and V stumbled into her blurry vision, with a limp. She jumped up and ran towards him, blinking furiously, and then pulled back as she saw he was leaving a trail of blood on the wall as he leaned against it.

"Oh my god V you're hurt!" she cried out, unable to do more than state the obvious as he stumbled again, and she did her best to catch him.

He felt so weak, and as she looked at him, she saw even his mask was battered with scars from bullets.

"We-we've got to stop the bleeding!"

"No. My dear Evey, it's much too late for that."

She held him in her arms tightly, as if that was all that was keeping him alive, keeping him with her.

"But…I don't want you to die." She whispered, and tears fell before she could stop them.

He sighed, and looked up at her,

"That's…the most beautiful gift you could have given Me." another deep sigh, and he stopped moving in her arms.

Tears blurred her vision once more, and all she could see was the mix of blood red and his black suit.

But then she straightened, swallowed, and knew what she had to do.

* * *

Inspector Finch had followed along the tracks at a normal pace, being careful to observe every tie, but when a hail of gunfire rang out not too far ahead from him, he began to run.

He came upon the scene of what appeared to be a massacre, but what he knew had been where V was ambushed by Creedy and his men, yet somehow, beyond the realm of possible, V had won.

He followed the trail of blood smudges on the wall, and came to see a small, shaven headed figure arranging blood red roses around V's body, on a train packed with explosives.

He walked closer, and as he saw them reach for the lever to start the train, he pulled his gun out and walked right up to the figure.

"Stop right there. You're Evey Hammond aren't you?"

Now that he was right in front of her, he blinked. Though she had been shaved of all her hair, for god knows why, she had a plain and simple natural beauty that stunned him. She looked him straight in the eye, with her serious brown orbs, and she seemed to be able to see right into his soul.

"Yes. I am." She tilted her head to the side, and as the great clock of London began to strike midnight, she smiled to herself, and said

"It's time."

"Stop. Get your hand off that lever." He heard himself bark, but she didn't even flinch at him, she just turned to level another stare,

"No." she pushed the lever down, and stepped down off the train, still in the path of his gun. He lowered it, and together they both watched the train doors shut and it took off around the corner.

"Tell me Mr. Finch, do you like music?" a simple question, yet he found himself growing a bit apprehensive as he followed her.

They came out on a balcony, with the house of Parliament in plain view, and the strings of the blacklisted '1812 Overture' began to play, and he turned to Evey,

"Did you know him? Who was he?"

She smiled sadly, tears in her eye,

"He was Edmond Dante's, he was my mother, my father, my brother, he was you, he was me, and he was all of us. He did what we all would have if we had had the strength, the courage, and the motivation."

He watched her, she was completely serious. He found she was also completely right. Seconds later, the final toll of the clock, and the explosions began. They continued for a few moments, and then the sky was lit with a final series of explosions, that formed a large red 'V' in the sky. His final work was his most ingenious. He had truly reshaped the world, and now it was theirs to collect, and transform back into something resembling a free world.

* * *

_A/N: thanks for reading._


	7. Chapter 7

_5 years later..._

* * *

Chief Inspector Eric Finch had never been so nervous in his life, as he stood in front of his desk; he opened the small black box again, once again checking to make sure the precious cargo was still there.

Today was the day. He was proposing to the wonderful, enigmatic, smart, and stunningly beautiful Evey Hammond. She was in every way the hero of greater London, and most people would never know that.

She had chosen a life of anonymity after Parliament had blown up on national television, among other things. She lived in V's old home, the Shadow Gallery, as she liked to call it. He kept urging her to turn in the works of art and music she had, insisting society could use a bit of beauty in their lives again, but she refused. She knew the world could create its own beauty as it needed. Flooding the galleries with lost works wouldn't be the best course of action; after all, they could always visit Paris if they really wanted to see some art.

She had plucked a single rose from the massive bouquet that had accompanied V's body and the train and had begun a garden from it. She loved the way it made the underground mansion smell. He loved the way it made her smell when she visited him at his London flat.

Someday, hopefully soon, she would bring a bunch of the roses and try to start growing them at his place.

He closed the black box swiftly, and headed out to his car.

He didn't exactly know where the mansion was, and she kept it a secret by always meeting him halfway and blindfolding him. Some might say that was a bit strange, but he didn't mind it. She always knew where she was going, and he trusted her.

Today, as she led him to the mansion, he swore he could smell the roses in her hair, he'd gotten a glimpse at her light brown curls before she had slipped the blindfold over his eyes, and it looked lovely. In the past years, her hair had grown back out to the length it had been before it all began, before he had even met her. Though not many could pull off having no hair, he honestly preferred her's long. It suited her delicate features, and he loved stroking his hand through it. It felt like silk, and the curls, she never tried to tame, made her like some wild creature. He was happy he had been the one she had chosen.

* * *

_A/N: thanks for reading._


	8. Chapter 8

As Evey led Eric to the Shadow Gallery, she couldn't help but wonder if something was going on, he had sounded rather nervous on the phone when he'd called her, and she had thought it was from his promotion, or rather the heavy workload that resulted from that, but she couldn't be sure.

When they reached the room that held the jukebox, and she pushed a button to start her favorite song, 'Cry me a River.' By Julie London, she pulled off his blindfold.

"Welcome home." She said softly, smiling at him as he looked around wordlessly.

"Everytime I come here, it's like the first time. How is that?"

He asked her, and she just shrugged,

"Perhaps there's just something about having all this beauty around." She looked around, staring at one of the paintings, and when she turned back she found him on one knee, her throat closed up, and he held out a black box, opening it to reveal a stunning gold ring, with a single small diamond.

"Even with all this beauty, all I can ever see is you, Evey. Will you marry me?"

* * *

He tried to do his best not to drop the ring, that was probably bad luck, but as she stared at him, seemingly frozen, he was suddenly unsure. Had he been wrong? Did they both not want the same thing?

All his doubts melted away when she stepped forward and plucked the box from his hand,

"Of course I will. But you didn't need a ring." She smiled at him and as he stood up he pulled her into his arms, kissing her and taking her breath away.

She melted into his strong embrace, and her arms crept around his shoulders, gripping him as closely as she could. He was quite a bit taller than her, so she had to stand on her tip toes to keep kissing him.

When she pulled back, he grinned at her,

"Aren't you going to try it on?"

She blushed, how could she have forgotten? That was part of accepting the proposal.

She reached back to where she had set the box, opened it, and slid the ring on her left hand. She held it up to the light, and it dazzled her with its simple beauty.

"It's perfect Eric. Thank you."

A file slid across his desk, drawing his attention away from the morning headlines, and he pulled back from sipping his hot coffee.

"What's this?" Eric asked, and the deliverer looked in his eye,

"Don't you want to find out what happened to your old partner? Dominic?" Chief Constable Jones asked in his gravelly voice, chilling Eric's blood in his veins.

"Did they find…a body?"

"I'm afraid so Inspector."

Eric was too thunderstruck to bother correcting his superior.

All this time, he thought Dominic had died in an automobile accident the night of the 5th.

"As you can see, it's not completely, whole."

Chief Inspector Finch, the hardened detective, had to turn away to keep from vomiting up his lunch.

How they had managed to identify the few bits of charred bone and teeth, was beyond him.

The strange part was, they were found in and among the rubble of the old house of Parliament.

* * *

Finch arrived back at his flat, completely exhausted, both physically and mentally. The smell of eggs and bacon caught his attention, and as he hung up his keys, he could hear Evey's sweet voice humming along with the radio.

"Darling? What on earth are you doing? It's nearly eight o'clock!"

She turned to him, and he was stunned to see she only had on a brown apron, and nothing beneath it.

"Hey, how was work? And so what if it's almost eight, in the Shadow Gallery, time holds no meaning, if I feel like bacon and eggs, then I make them. Do you like my outfit?"

Her brown curls fell just to below her shoulders, and all that was bare below seemed to call out for his touch.

Work temporarily forgotten; he strode forward to grasp her hips in his hands,

"I love it, and I'm starving."

* * *

_A/N: thanks for reading._


	9. Chapter 9

She lay in his arms, exhausted and sated from their evening of dining and lovemaking, and he was still wide awake. Dominic had seemed to have been an open and shut case, but now with the discovery of his remains, the case was wide open, with no clear end in sight.

What could have happened?

* * *

He opened his eyes, the sun seemed somehow hazy. The pollution in the former United States was most likely the cause. His mind flickered back and forth through the past.

The few moments before the explosion, the look of assurance in Dominic's eyes as he took his last steps, the firm grip of his hand on his arm as they switched places.

The nod of his head as the door slid shut, and the train made its final journey.

He had had barely a minute to get as far away as he could before the explosion rocked the very ground and he felt the heat from the fire on his back.

He straightened up, and walked over to his small kitchen, pouring a cup of cold coffee. It was something he had acquired a taste for, being in this country, it was a drink secondary only to water.

The bitter yet smooth taste reminded him of the night he had met her. He had been angry, truly angry for the first time in nearly 10 years in that alley.

He calmed down the second he knew she was unharmed.

The little speech he gave her was different from the one that had first crossed his mind.

'I risk going someplace where you don't want me to go by saying this, but you looked so utterly amazing I wanted to be with you right then and there.'

What girl wants to hear that right after almost being raped by three strange men, then rescued by yet another stranger? None.

* * *

_A/N: thanks for reading._


	10. Chapter 10

Eric stood in the doorway, the cold air of the fridge sending goosebumps up and down his arms, yet he couldn't seem to turn away.

"Honey? You looking for a midnight snack? There are brownies on the island."

He turned to see Evey, rubbing sleep from her eyes like a child, in merely one of his large white dress shirts; her curves visible with the fridge light…not so much like a child then.

"No darling. Just thinking."

"In the fridge? C'mon, come back to bed if you're not going to eat."

"Yes darling. Of course."

* * *

"I may need to go The Former United States to follow a couple leads on this case. I will return before your birthday, I promise." He swept her into his arms, her warmth and the scent of vanilla in her hair making him wish he could stay.

Evey's brown eyes stung with unshed tears, but she nodded reluctantly. She knew he would find the answers he needed there, and she couldn't hold him back from doing his job.

"Be safe."

* * *

_**END**  
_

* * *

_****A/N: Sorta lost interest, so i ended it on a continuation possible note, but still an end. Sorry about that.  
_


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